Man accused of stealing, crashing police chief's truck

A man is in the Hunt County Jail after police and sheriff's departments say he went on a one-man crime spree.

They say he stole a police vehicle, but not just any police vehicle -- it was the chief's.

The suspect, 26-year-old Brandon Brewer, survived nearly two dozen gunshots from officers and crashed into an 18-wheeler.

Police say the incident started with a suspicious vehicle parked on the side of the road in Quinlan. The Quinlan chief responded, and the chief from neighboring West Tawakoni went to back him up.

When they arrived, they found Brewer, who had a felony warrant out of Collin County, and that was just the beginning -- Hunt County dash cam video shows Brewer stealing the West Tawakoni chief's truck and dodging a hail of gunfire as he runs a roadblock.

"Chief Thornberg looks up, and this guy has stepped through the handcuffs, unbuckled his seatbelt, climbed over and got in the driver's seat and took off," said Hunt County Sheriff Randy Meeks. "And then one of my deputies set up a roadblock, because there's only one way in and one way out."

In the dash cam video, an officer can be seen with his gun already drawn.

"When you've got a guy that has stolen a police vehicle and he's coming at you in that vehicle, his intentions are to take you out," said Meeks.

Meeks says the three law enforcement officers fired nearly 23 shots, and none of them hit Brewer.

Brewer continued driving, and a short distance later, slammed into an 18-wheeler.

"An 18-wheeler just appeared or something," said Brewer. "I don't know. I hit an 18-wheeler.I don't remember seeing no 18-wheeler come down no dirt road."

"The cops say they were scared to death that you were trying to run them over," said FOX 4's James Rose.

"Oh, that's irrelevant," said Brewer.

"Irrelevant?" said Rose.

"Yes, sir," said Brewer. "I'm sure the dash cam in my squad car would tell you that I wasn't trying to run them over."

"The dash cam in your squad car?" said Rose.

"Yeah, I had my own squad car for a little bit," said Brewer."I mean, West Tawakoni let me borrow it. Certainly, they didn't want me…they left it running for me, didn't they?…I really do apologize to the chief of police about that. I'm not that kind of person."

Brewer wasn't seriously hurt in the crash. Police say they later learned that the vehicle he was riding in was stolen from a Dallas car lot.

Brewer told FOX 4 that he bought it.

His charges now range from minor drug possession to evading arrest and aggravated assault against a public servant.

Brewer also told FOX 4 he was high on methamphetamines during the incident.